Largo 2s finally got in the win column for 2024 thanks to incredible all round effort from Sandhu.
4 wickets and 35 runs from Sandhu, as well as 3 wicket for Graham and vital 19* from Miles see Largo to victory in the rain vs Dundee High FPs.
On a day that had conditions more like mid-December than mid-July, Largo’s 2nd XI welcomed Dundee High FPs 2nd XI to East Drive, with the home side still looking for their first win of the season. Brent Bentley, Largo’s captain won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Largo opened the bowling with Graham and Smith, and immediately Graham was in the wickets column with Murdo Duncan taking a good catch at square leg off his first ball. The Dundee side through Reid and Salie saw off the rest of the pair’s spells but Largo would end up on top through a great bowling performance from Sandhu. With the score on 23 he removed Salie bowled for 11 before he would go on to take 3 further wickets including the dangerous Wijesinghe bowled round his legs for 4, meaning that coupled with a wicket for Gareth Miles the visitors were 35/6 and in real trouble.
Hopkins and Raheel would mount a recovery for the Dundee side adding 35 for the 7th wicket before Ally Duncan got a deserved wicket for his efforts bowling Raheel through the gate for 13. Murdo Duncan would follow his father and get an important wicket of Parker caught very well on the deep leg side boundary by MacLeod for 11 before it was left to Graham to finish off the innings bowling Hopkins for a top score of 24. Dundee High finished on 91 all out in 37.4 overs with Sandhu’s 4/10 and Graham’s 3/14 the highlights.
In reply Largo opened with Tooze and Bentley and after bowling well to start the innings it was Razzak who got the reward by bowling Bentley with an inswinger for 1. Brown would join Tooze and the pair inched along slowly in tough, wet conditions against a very disciplined display from the visitors before, with drinks looming both were dismissed for 9 and 12 respectively to leave Largo 28/3 off 20 overs and struggling to get going in the innings.
However, the game like in the first innings would turn with the introduction of Sandhu. Batting with Gareth Miles the pair put on 53 with Sandhu’s unorthodox style proving effective in getting momentum to the innings with his 3 sixes and sharp running helping towards an entertaining innings of 35 off just 22 balls to get Largo within 12 runs of victory.
Sandhu would be dismissed by Wijesinghe caught behind by Salie but this would not stop the Largo side claiming their first win of the season with Miles (19*) and president Duncan seeing Largo home for a 6 wicket win with 3 overs to spare.
In a game where Dundee High must take a lot of credit for continuing to play in constant drizzle in the 2nd innings, Largo 2s will be delighted to finally get a win thanks in no small part to the all-round performance of Sandhu on the day. With the hope that with a kinder fixture schedule upcoming this could be the start of a winning run, they will look to keep the momentum going next week against Falkland’s 3rd XI on Sunday.